The Gift of Giving: Awards to Recognise Inspiring Essex People

Recognising Essex people and Essex organisations with an award or gift in kind is more than just a moment in time. For a person, it reasures them that their time is appreciated or that they have come far. For an organisation, reputationally, it helps to build credibility, authenticity, and trust.  

We know, and have the honour of working with, so many inspiring individuals and teams. This blog highlights just some of the recent awards and gifts that our wonderful Essex people, and organisation, have received.

Pride of Essex Awards  

Highly Commended Ultimate Volunteer Team 

Lane and Sleigh Belles

This year our committed volunteer fundraisers, Lane Line and the Sleigh Belles, received a ‘Highly Commended’ in the Ultimate award category, and this is why:  

As volunteer fundraisers Lane and her ‘Sleigh Belles’ have actively organised, and supported, the ‘Christmas Appeal’ by collecting Christmas Hampers and gifts for disadvantaged children. The team, made up of Essex people, began their volunteering for ‘Kids Inspire’ five years ago, to collect donations for 16 food hampers. Collectively across the years, their efforts have raised funds for over 1,400 Christmas Food hampers for families around Essex. Alongside the hampers funds often stretch to many gifts for the appeal too.

Lane and the Sleigh Belles are already collecting for this year! Thank you so much for all you do for our Appeal! 

Highly Commended Inspirational Youth  

The Award

A member of our clinical team felt so inspired by a young person that she nominated her in the Inspirational Youth category. Her compelling story inspired the judges to recognise her with a ‘Highly Commended Inspirational Youth’ award. 

“This young person’s story is a testament to resilience, compassion, and an unwavering commitment to helping others, even in the face of adversity.” – Helen, Kids Inspire therapist 

Business Awards 

Best Local Charity 

This year, we were honoured to have won 'Best Local Charity' at the 2023 Brentwood Business Awards. The category recognises charities, working in Essex, that do important and inspiring work, who are not always in the spotlight, yet make a huge difference to the local community.  

Thanks to all the organisers and category sponsors, Rainer Hughes, Brentwood Chamber of Commerce, award headline sponsor Pinney Talfourd Solicitors and media partner Phoenix FM for organising such a wonderful evening celebrating and uniting fantastic local businesses and organisations.  

Community Charity of the Year  

This year we were honoured to be chosen as a finalist in the 'Community Charity of the Year ' at the Countywide Essex Business Awards.  

The awards have been a local platform celebrating the achievements of Essex businesses for 27 years. The 'Community Charity of the Year' award honours charities in Essex that have done outstanding work in helping our local community over the past 12 months.  

Gifts are not always packaged with a bow, sometimes they come in the shape of new resources to replace the broken and the old. That is how WSP and Hasbro have gifted to us to support our work with children, young people, and their families. 

Gifts In Kind

Hasbro:  

Games manufacturer, Hasbro, gifted in kind when it was revealed that our creative therapists were using broken games during sessions. Thanks to Hasbro’s generosity, each of our therapy rooms has been re-stocked with a selection of games for our therapists to use creatively in sessions.  

 “Using LinkedIn and the power of connections, we got in touch with the charity partner for Hasbro UK who said her heart hurt to hear about children in Essex playing broken games and arranged for 150 games and packs of Play-Doh.” Helen, Kids Inspire’s Head of Marketing and Communications 

WSP:

Recently, WSP answered a distress call from our team on LinkedIn and donated 45 laptops to Kids Inspire. The laptops mean our therapists can now hold remote sessions with young people, uninterrupted by ‘load-whirring’ old machines.  And our business teams can access applications and work on large files without the fear of overwhelming their machine.  

" Most of my client work is online. The fact that we offer this service is so beneficial for many of our clients who are not local to our office in Essex or can’t drive. Having a new, reliable laptop means I can concentrate solely on my client and not worry about losing them halfway through the session, thank you." – Angela, Kids Inspire Therapist  

Sometimes the gift of giving comes in the form of time. 

Aviva Broker Community Fund

In this case from not one, but two Essex-based Insurance Brokers. Both took time out to nominate Kids Inspire for the Aviva Broker Community Fund, completing an application to say why our work inspired them to do so. Their time on the applications meant that we were awarded £10,000, so it was well spent for the

benefit of many young people within the Essex community. 

Thank you to everyone involved in all the decisions made above not only do they benefit the Essex people they touched, but also the wider community from which Kids Inspire works.